Alone I Dream
by Sir Godot
Summary: All alone he sleeps in the basement of the Hokage tower. His dreams tell of the distant past and the far future. His name is Naruto, the Kyuubi's host and Konoha's dreamseer. But the price for this gift was his chance to live a normal life. HIATUS/REWRITE
1. Prologue

**Well, welcome to the prologue of 'Alone I Dream'. I think there hasn't been a FF on this board yet where Naruto's body wasn't able to handle the Kyuubi. So I wondered how Naruto's life would have turned out if he never became a ninja but still wanted to protect his village. I hope it didn't turn out to bad.**

**Enjoy and please R&R**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. **

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**Prologue**

_Once appeared a Nine-Tailed Demon Fox in the Land of Fire. Its mighty tails could crumble mountains and cause tsunamis. To fight the demon the people assembled__ all the shonobi from the Village Hidden in the Leaf. One brave shinobi was able to seal up the demon, but because of that he lost his life._

_That shinobi was called the Forth Hokage._

The battle was finally over. The nine-tailed fox had been defeated.

But it had been paid with the blood of the people that had fallen before its terrifying powers. The person that had managed to win against the strongest biju was lying on the ground, feeling how his life faded away. The Yondaime Hokage had given his life to seal the Kyuubi away in his own son. His eyes loosing their eyes were filled with tears as he thought that he would never see his son grow up.

With his dying breath he whispered "Be strong… my son." His eyes closed. The Yondaime was dead. In the town behind him a child was crying. The child's name was… Naruto.

The Sandaime Hokage looked at the child as the seal on its belly started to glow in a crimson red. He sighed heavily. He knew what it meant. The nine-tailed was defeated… but for what?

His dark thoughts were interrupted when the child started crying like mad, but it wasn't just a baby's usual crying. This one spoke of unimaginable pain. When crimson chakra started to leak from the newborn, the retired Hokage new that the situation was still dangerous for Konoha. The Third Hokage was surprised by this to say at least, had something gone wrong with the sealing?

"Quickly, alarm the hospital! The child's life is in danger!"

The ANBU hurried to fulfil the Hokage's orders. Once they were gone Sarutobi took the crying child and hurried towards the hospital as well.

"Minato, I won't let your child suffer the same fate like you did."

_**A few hours later…**_

The Sandaime was sitting in his old office again. He had been reinstated as Hokage since there wasn't a suitable successor to Minato. He got up and went to the hospital. The Third Hokage wanted to know if the boy's condition was stable again, he feared for the boy's life. He entered the room where Naruto was stationed in only to find the doctor in charge looking at the results of the examination. When the doctor noticed that the door opened, he saw the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama, it's good to see you."

"Thank you doctor, so, how's the boy?"

The doctor's face became blank when the Hokage asked him. Slowly he said:

"When we treated the boy we noticed a rapid decline of his body functions, muscles, cells, organs, everything. Furthermore the muscles suffered the most intensive chakra burn I've ever seen. We managed to stabilize him but we were unable to undo the damage he received up to that point. He is damaged beyond repair; even Tsunade-sama wouldn't be able to help this boy."

He looked sadly at the shocked Hokage.

"I'm afraid the boy will never be able to live a normal life. He might be able to move, but it would be a miracle if he could walk more than three steps. I'm sorry, Hokage-sama."

A world shattered for the Third Hokage.


	2. Chapter 1: Like a Bird with Broken Wings

**The first chapter. ****I haven't really got anything else to say XD Enjoy and please R&R**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto.**

"Speech"

'_Thought'_

"**Demon Speech"**

'_**Demon Thought'**_

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**1. Chapter: Like a bird with broken wings**

There was no light. But there was no darkness either. Everything was illuminated by a dim twilight. The twilight was everywhere. Yet in the middle of this desolate twilight there was the floating image of a young blond haired boy, he could not be older than twelve. His eyes were closed; it looked like he was sleeping. Or dead? It didn't really matter for the young boy weather he was alive or dead. Could his life even be called a 'life'? Always being in a state between dream and reality, between mind and matter, was this 'life'?

"…to…"

The boy dozily opened his eyes. What was this again?

"…ruto, wa…up."

Ah, a voice. Someone was calling him. The boy closed his eyes again and slowly the twilight receded, turning into darkness. The young boy was falling though darkness. Then he opened his eyes again. But this time he didn't see the desolate yet comforting twilight but a wooden ceiling. With his body he could feel the soft bed he was lying in. The boy knew this ceiling and the bed. After all, he had spent almost his whole life in this room under the Hokage Tower. With his consciousness returning to his body, the blond child could now hear the voice that had been calling out to him clearly.

"Thank Goodness Naruto, you scared me for a moment. I was afraid you had fallen into a coma again. Well, how are you feeling today?"

Naruto turned his head in the direction the voice came from. Well, it wasn't like he could move anything else. With lifeless eyes and a neutral expression on his face the boy called Naruto looked into the face of the only person that probably truly cared about him: the Third Hokage.

"Good morning Hokage-sama. That is, if it really is morning. As for me, I'm feeling as I always do. To what do I owe the honor of this visit?"

The Hokage's cheerful expression saddened slightly when he heard Naruto's uncaring voice. Even after all the years of trying to get Naruto out of his shell he was still like this. Well, they couldn't help it. The boy had spent his whole life in this special room that ensured that he didn't suffer more than he had to.

The Hokage sadly remembered how the doctor had told him that they could only numb his pain. He would survive without medicine, but his life would become a real hell if he wouldn't take the painkillers. And that really troubled the old Kage, considering that Naruto's life probably already was more of a hell than he could imagine.

It was still a mystery to everyone who knew of this ability Naruto had somehow acquired. Only four persons, namely the Hokage, his two former teammates and Danzo knew of the boys' unique gift. It was an SS-class secret of the village, as well as the sealing of the Kyuubi. Unfortunately it made Naruto's whole existence a secret, no matter how much the Hokage hated it. So Naruto lay in the basement of the Hokage tower, all alone, unknown to the outside world. He was Konoha's greatest weapon, he who could see the destiny of everyone in his dreams. The jailor of the Nine-Tailed Beast, the dreamseer of Konoha, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze, the son of the Fourth Hokage.

When the Hokage noticed that Naruto was silently staring at him he concentrated on the purpose he had come to Naruto again.

"You see Naruto, I wanted to talk with you about your latest prophecy. We found the spy exactly where you told us, now we know all the details about the upcoming invasion Orochimaru is planning of. Team Seven under Hatake Kakashi together with Haku and Zabuza also eliminated the so called 'Sound Five', so all I can say is: Thank you, Naruto, you saved countless lives with this."

Naruto nodded faintly. Haku and Zabuza? Where had he heard that names again? Oh yes, he remembered, it was on of his prophecies he made about four years ago…

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_Flashback_

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_The Hokage hurried to the basement under the Hokage Tower. It was very rare that Naruto called for him, so it was either an emergency or an important prophecy. After passing though several high level defense systems, Sarutobi finally reached the room Naruto lived in._

_When he entered the blond's chamber, he saw that Naruto was looking at him with a quite serious expression instead of his usual emotionless one. _

"_Hokage-sama, I had a vision of the near future a few moments ago. When I saw the persons involved in it I could sense that they will have another big role in upcoming events. But I guess it would be best to simply show you."_

_The Hokage nodded and Naruto closed his eyes. Seconds later the Hokage was wandering across an empty field. It was very foggy and cold, but in the distance the Hokage recognized the buildings of Kirigakure, the Village Hidden in the Mist. When he continued walking he saw a little boy sitting on a bridge, wearing nothing but rags. Then a voice started to resound in the Hokage's head while he was watching how a man with a large sword held out his hand to the child._

Look to the west, a friend awaits you in the land of the Bloody Mist

The early snow is covered by strong fog.

While the snow grows more and more, the fog will soon begin to disperse.

Both snow and fog are swept away by the bloodstained wheel.

Time waits for no one.

The waves are weakening.

Will snow and fog find rest among the leaves?

_Short images flashed in front of the Hokage; he saw an town in poverty, a bridge and Kakashi piercing the now older boy though his chest. __Then the vision ended._

_The Hokage was quiet after this and waited for Naruto to return to the real world. When the dreamseer slowly opened his eyes he spoke to the Hokage once more._

"_Those two… They are special. I sense a determination that cannot be broken from them. Although they have done terrible things they carry the 'Will of Fire' in them. They will be useful to Konoha and won't betray you, I can assure you of this. And now, please go, I need to… sleep…"_

_Naruto's voice faded away, and the Hokage knew where he would send a special squad to the next day._

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_Flashback End_

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"Naruto? Are you alright?"

The Hokage's voice brought Naruto back to reality.

"Yes, excuse me; I just remembered the names you said. As I said, they carry the 'Will of Fire'. And they will play an important role in the upcoming invasion. Although, even my prophecies aren't 100% correct. There is always the Wild Card, you know? I guess I'll return to my private world if you allow, I need to gather my strength again. I'm sure we'll see each other again very soon, Hokage-sama."

"I see Naruto. I hope you'll rest well."

The Hokage stayed at the side of Naruto's bed until he had closed his eyes completely. Then the old shinobi quickly scanned the monitors that supervised Naruto's condition as well as the dose of painkillers he received. Everything was alright. But still, Sarutobi couldn't help to feel guilty. Here was the son of his successor, unable to even walk under the blue sky. A good thing was that the fox seemed to be still sleeping inside the seal. He had already caused enough damage to the boy, he didn't need to rub salt into the boys' wounds.

The Hokage turned around once more before leaving through the high security door.

"Good night Naruto. Sleep well, young hero of Konoha."

Unnoticed by Sarutobi and probably even by Naruto a small smile formed on the face of the first and only dreamseer of Konoha.

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**That was the first chapter, I hope you liked it.**

**Please comment it, I'd like to hear your thoughts about it^^**


	3. Chapter 2: The Sleeping Beast Awakens

**Wow, ****23 e-mails in just one day, all about reviews, alerts and this stuff. I was pretty shocked, my other FFs would be lucky to get this much attention (this is no surreptitious advertising XD ) Anyway, thanks for the reviews. I've a few ways how I'll let the story develop. Just wait and see, I might put up some polls if I'm not sure.**

**Well, that's it from my side, enjoy the next chapter^^ **

**And please review, they are like water in the desert for authors, seriously.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did it wouldn't be so easy for Sasuke.**

"**Demon Speech"**

'**Demon Thought'**

"Speech"

'Thought'

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**Chapter 2: The Sleeping Beast Awakens**

Once again Naruto was floating in the middle of the twilight world that was created by his mind. At this place he felt at… peace. There was no pain, no things that distracted him. The real world was painful. Naruto had once felt what happened if the drugs weren't suppressing the pain of his body. It had been like going through all stations of hell over and over again. Luckily the Sandaime had noticed this and helped him; Naruto probably wouldn't have been able to handle the pain much longer.

Of course Naruto had thought about suicide. But he couldn't really move and that reduced the possibilities quite much. He could stop the painkillers, but the pain was far worse than death and the Hokage always knew when there was something wrong in Naruto's room. So Naruto had decided he would simply wait for his natural death to come and if he could use this strange power he had to ease the lives of people, why not? He knew what it was like to feel helpless; he didn't want anyone else to suffer it.

The power to read the stars… a dreamseer… There were many names for his gift, but no one really knew where it came from. Only Naruto knew, but he didn't tell them. It wasn't like they had asked either. 'To read the stars' wasn't the right expression. It was more like 'to read the earth'. Naruto was one with the planet in his dreams, a reaction to his intense contact with chakra, the force of all living things. It allowed Naruto to 'dive' into the memories of the planet itself. Well, memory wasn't the right word; it was rather the consciousness of the world. The planet knew of every being, and what would happen to him. Naruto could read those destinies and thus create prophecies. While he had been younger it had been occasionally, but now he could control it to a certain degree.

The reason why he could only see certain events and only small parts of it was because of the sheer size of the worlds' consciousness. It was easy to feel destinies that had a huge impact on everybody's lives, like the liberation of Wave Country or the upcoming invasion of Sound. Only one thing troubled Naruto. While he completely understood the connection between his body's condition and his gift, he didn't know what had been the trigger for this. Why was his body burned this badly by chakra? Naruto could use chakra since the Hokage had explained it to him, although his body would decay even faster if he tried to use it. His body wouldn't be able to handle much more of it.

This thought started something in Naruto. Since he didn't have anything else to do, he started to deepen the thought. His body was burned by chakra. This meant he had been releasing a huge amount of it from his body. Since had this burns since he could think, which was quite early, he must have released it as a mere baby. But no child this young could use chakra, only if it was forced out of him or another source had produced the chakra, a source that hadn't been himself. Suddenly Naruto remembered another memory of the planet, the memory of the biju, who had once roamed the land. There was a very strong memory of the one that was called the king of all demons, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, Kyuubi no Yoko. He had suddenly disappeared 12 years ago in the fight with the Forth Hokage.

In the World of Never-Ending Twilight Naruto's eyes shot wide open. How could he have been so blind? It was so simple. The Kyuubi's presence had left the planet; it must have been sealed away. And since almost nothing was strong enough to hold the strongest biju, why not defeat it by sealing it into a human child. Naruto's spiritual body began trembling when he once again checked his chakra-burns, while the world around him started to collapse. Yes, it was there, the faint presence of demonic chakra. Why didn't he notice before? He was the container of the Demon Fox, and nothing else. Was that why he was kept down here? To ensure that the fox was kept locked away?

In his emotional struggle Naruto didn't notice what was happening around him. The twilight was collapsing even faster than before, but this time it wasn't replaced by a deep crimson.

Naruto clutched his head in agony. What was he? A weapon, not only locking away the greatest beast that ever wandered the lands but also told the future to the very village that had condemned his life? Was he nothing but a human sacrifice? And why was it him? Why had the Fourth Hokage, a shinobi that was just as merciful as the Sandaime sealed the demon inside him?

Naruto's thoughts stopped. What had happened? This wasn't the World of Never-Ending Twilight he had created. It looked rather like a… sewer? What was this malicious presence he felt? Naruto looked around. The walls around him were badly damaged, but alongside them were pipes that were completely fine. The thing that caught his attention was the gigantic cage in front of him. In the middle of the bars was a small piece of paper which had written the kanji for 'Seal' on it.

The evil presence was now even stronger than before. Naruto was afraid. For the first time in his life he felt true fear. Even when he had almost died of pain once it hadn't been this bad. Back then the pain had been too intense to feel anything. He had almost welcomed the thought of escaping the world that time. But this was nothing compared to the terror that gripped his soul, telling him that he was only alive because the one that created this pure hatred didn't think he was worth his time.

And then it hit him. This was the one that has scarred his body and condemned him to a life in the dungeon beneath the Hokage Tower. The only being that would be able to produce such killer intent without even thinking of it, the Kyuubi no Kitsune. But how was this possible? Naruto had never felt a place like this in his mind.

Naruto was interrupted in his thoughts when he heard a deep growl coming from the cage. Then a deep voice could be heard from behind the bars. It sounded old, yet strong and incredible evil.

"**WHO DARES TO AWAKEN ME?"**

The voice was incredibly intense, it was like Naruto was right in front of this entity.

"**A HUMAN? HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE IF SMELLED THIS SCNET? COME CLOSER KIT. LET ME SEE THE ONE I'M IMPRISONED IN."**

Carefully Naruto approached the prison inside of his mind. But when he was about to reach the bars, a gigantic claw suddenly hit the bars. Naruto stumbled backwards. This thing was imprisoned inside him? The seal had to be incredible strong to keep this thing at bay.

"**AAAAARGHH!!! CURSE**** YOU FOURTH!!! IF THIS SEAL WASN'T HERE I'D RIP EVERYONE OF YOUR PATHETIC VILLAGE APART!!!"**

The pure force of the Kyuubi's roar sent Naruto flying backwards against the wall. This was truly the King of all biju. Yet Naruto gathered all the courage he could muster and started to speak with the nine-tailed fox.

"So you're the great Demon Fox that attacked Konoha 12 years ago… And the one that destroyed my body after getting sealed inside it."

Although Naruto couldn't see much in the darkness behind the prison bars he caught the glimpse of the Kyuubi's terrifying grin.

"**THAT'S RIGHT, PATHETIC HUMAN. I'M SURPRISED YOU CAN EVEN TALK BACK TO ME. BUT DON'T BLAME YOUR CONDITION ON ME, THE STUPID SEAL INTERFERRED WITH ME WHEN I TRIED TO TAKE OVER YOUR BODY. IT MESSED UP MY YOUKI FLOW AND OVERLOADED YOUR BODY, I'M SURPRISED WE SURVIVED THIS. OF COURSE, IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR ME YOU WOULD HAVE DIED THAT NIGHT. BE GRATEFUL I PULLED YOU WITH ME WHEN I KEPT MYSELF ALIVE."**

Naruto couldn't believe what he had just heard. A feeling he hardly felt swelled up inside him: anger.

"You expect me to thank you for making my life a hell?! Are you insane?! If it wasn't for you I could have lived a normal life, I would have been able to walk under the sun! But because of you my body wouldn't even be able to handle the stress when I'm moved too much!"

Sadly Naruto remembered his 6th birthday, the Hokage wanted to take him outside in a wheelchair. But just when they were about to leave the building, Naruto's heart had almost collapsed because of the excitement. As a result he nearly died and the doctor told him that if he suffered a cardiac attack again he would probably not survive it. Later on the Hokage had tried to show him the outside world with a genjutsu, but for some reason they hadn't worked on Naruto. While Naruto was shaking with anger, the Demon Fox spoke anew.

"**LISTEN UP, KIT. ****I KNOW IT WAS MY FAULT THAT YOUR BODY WAS DAMAGED LIKE THIS, HELL; IF I HADN'T TRIED TO TAKE IT OVER FROM THE START WE MIGHT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO LIVE A RELATIVELY NORMAL LIFE. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW BORING THIS IS FOR ME?! I WAS LUCKY TO FALL ASLEEP FROM EXHAUSTION AFTER SAVING YOUR BODY, I DON'T WANT TO IMAGINE LIVING IN THIS ROOM FOR 12 YEARS AND DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! IF THIS GOES ON I'LL BE BORED TO DEATH!!!"**

Then both of them fell silent, both of them thinking about their current situation. Naruto was wondering what he should think about the Kyuubi. On the one hand he seemed at least like an entity you could talk with, but he also knew that he should never trust him. Kyuubi was thinking almost the same things. The boy would probably never trust him, and he would never suggest doing so. He WAS a demon after all. So the two of them would have to make the best out of their rather bad situation. Of course the Kyuubi could have tried to force his control over the body again, but the Demon Fox was far from stupid. Ever since he had fought against the Fourth Hokage the Nine-Tailed had felt an emotion he hadn't felt before: mortal fear. Since he had been bound to this child's life he wasn't further away from death than a shinobi on a suicide mission. The Kyuubi was proud, but he wouldn't allow his pride to get the better of him. He would ensure this boys' survival, even if it was the last thing he would do. But not because of mercy, it was in his own interest only. Him, the strongest biju that ever existed would never sink so low to serve a human or befriend him.

"**OKAY PATHETIC HUMAN, LISTEN UP! I WON'T TRY ANYTHING THAT COULD HARM YOU AGAIN. AFTER ALL, I DON'T WANT TO DIE JUST YET. CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY, LITTLE ONE, FOR THIS TIME I WON'T MAKE ANY TROUBLE. I'LL EVEN GIVE YOU A LITTLE PRESENT TO EASE YOUR SUFFERING, BUT IN RETURN YOU MUST PROMISE TO MAKE IT A BIT MORE ENTERTAINING FOR ME IN HERE, OR ELSE I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT **_**REAL**_** PAIN IS LIKE. AND NOW, GET OUT!!!"**

Before Naruto could answer anything he felt how the Demon Fox emitted a massive chakra wave, luckily it couldn't pass the bars but the shockwave was still enough to throw Naruto out of the sewer. Only a moment later Naruto found himself wide awake in his bed. His eyes blinked several times. Well… this had been quite… interesting. The Kyuubi had _admitted_ that it had been his fault and he even had given Naruto a present, although Naruto had no idea what it was. Well, he would eventually find out, it was not like he had much to do instead of philosophising and thinking. Naruto realized how tired he was, apparently the meeting with the Kyuubi had been more taxing than he had first realized. Slowly his eyes started closing again, but for the first time in a while it was true sleep. How long had it been since had really slept?

'No, no thinking now… It's time to… rest…' Naruto reminded himself. It was… refreshing. Naruto could feel how his mind started to slow down, all the troubles started to fade away. Yes, now was not the time to dream. And so Naruto slowly drifted away into the first dreamless sleep he had had in a long time.

Inside the sewer however the malicious grin of the Kyuubi no Yoko could be seen.

"**SLEEP FOR NOW, LITTLE ONE. YOU'LL HAVE TO BE WELL RESTED FOR WHAT AWAITS YOU."**

A small stream of crimson chakra started to flow from the cage. In the depths of the seal Kyuubi's dark laughter could be heard.

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**That was chapter 2, I hope you liked it^^ I know cliffhangers suck but I had to put a stop somewhere. In the next chapter the Kyuubi's gift will be revealed and some of the other characters will make an appearance. Till next time XD**

**Oh and P.S: Please review**


	4. Chapter 3: The lonely Path

**Thank you for the reviews and favorites everybody, I'm glad to see that there are people who like this story. ****And I want to apologize for the long break; however, I had tests every week and didn't have the time to write anything useful in my free time. Now without any further delay I present you the next chapter of 'Alone I Dream'. A little note, the first part will show the character of the members of Team 7, they'll be a bit OOC, but not too much (they might have traits they acquired later in the series)**

**Disclaimer: I know it's shocking, but in fact I don't own Naruto.**

"**Demon Speech"**

'**Demon Thought'**

"Speech"

'Thought'

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**Chapter 3: ****The lonely path**

Some days had passed since Naruto had met the Kyuubi in his mindscape and he still hadn't woken up. The Hokage sat in his office and was taking a well-deserved break, not knowing about the events that had taken place after he had left the young dreamseer. The whole village was preparing for the coming days, the civilian side for the Chunin-Exams, the shinobi for the upcoming invasion of the villages of Sound and Sand. Checking that nobody was around to see what he was about to do, the Sandaime opened a drawer of his desk and pulled out a small orange book.

'Finally, I didn't get to read the newest issue yet. Ah, it's good to be Hokage sometimes, especially if you get a free edition of Jiraya's latest 'Icha Icha Paradise' issue.'

But before the closet pervert Hokage could start reading he was interrupted by his secretary knocking at his door.

"Hokage-sama, Kakashi-san and his team is here, they say it's about their next mission."

The old Hokage sighed. Why did Kakashi have to be on time today? Normally he was late so much that there had been the joke that even the Shinigami would have to wait for Kakashi. But there was nothing he could do against it; Team 7 had done remarkably well on their mission against the Sound 5. Okay, the leader had been struck by a rare disease according to the report and thus hadn't been much of a challenge. Furthermore there had been two Jonin level ninja – Kakashi Hatake and Momochi Zabuza – besides Kakashi's students Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura; and also Zabuza's apprentice Haku Hatsugoori **(1)**, who had been given the rank of a Genin and joined Kakashi's team but was in fact high Chunin level. It wasn't really a surprise that they had been able to defeat Orochimaru's special team. But there was still something they had to take care of. Just when the Sandaime had put his book away again the door opened to reveal the famous copy-nin and his students as well as the man known as 'Demon of the Bloody Mist'.

"Ah, Kakashi and Zabuza-san, it's good that you could make it. You see, I wanted to thank all of you for dealing with this dangerous mission exceptionally well. I added a little bonus to your pay checks."

Sarutobi smiled at the group, although most of them probably sensed that there was more to this meeting than a simple 'thank you' from the Hokage. With his one visible eye Kakashi watched his students. Sakura had started to blossomed on their recent missions; she took her training much more serious than before. She was no longer the stupid little fangirl she used to be. She had even cut her hair and started to master poison techniques Kakashi had given her, it had turned out she had quite some talent for these, along with excellent chakra control.

As for Sasuke… The Uchiha massacre had been a heavy blow to everyone in Konoha, but of course Sasuke suffered the most from it **(2)**. He had been until constant surveillance of psychologists, but this wound would probably never heal completely. But thanks to meeting with Haku he had seen what strength a person could gain when protecting someone. Even if it wasn't much, Sasuke had begun to open up ever so slowly. He still had a long way to go, but Kakashi was hopeful that he would one day overcome his dark thoughts.

Haku… This boy had changed Team 7 a lot. Since Kakashi's team was only consisting of two Genin the Hokage had added Haku to fill the spot. There had been some problems first of course, but no team was born over night. But day by day they had started to accept each other. For Haku, who had only had Zabuza as family the feeling of having friends was as new to him as it was to Sasuke. Kakashi remembered their last mission, the tracking and termination of the Sound 5. It had been a long fight, but luckily they had been able to catch them separated. While Kakashi and Zabuza had taken care of three of them, the Genin had been fighting with the last one. But just when they had defeated him, the leader, the bone user had shown up. It had been sheer luck that he had died before he could kill any of the Genin. But thanks to this near-death encounter Sasuke had managed to unlock his Sharingan, something that would prove valuable in near future.

"Well, now that we discussed that part I'll now tell you of the next mission I assign you too. It's a very important mission; if this one is a success it could prevent a war."

The Hokage's words stunned everyone in the room. Kakashi and Zabuza were speechless. They knew that Team 7 was quite strong for a Genin team, however, a mission that would decide over a possible war was definitely too much for them.

"Hokage-sama, you can't be serious! I know that they are strong for Genin, but that is ridiculous!" Kakashi almost yelled.

"Calm down Kakashi, I know very well of their abilities and the importance of this mission. However, it looks like the stars have given these children a destiny that has consequences for everyone in this village."

While the adults were still arguing about the mission, Team 7 had their own thoughts about what they had just heard.

'A mission that will decide over peace or war… If we really will get this mission I'll give it all I've got, I won't let anyone else suffer the fate of an orphan!' These were of course the thoughts of Haku, who had always detested war, since had suffered from the bloodline purge and the resulting civil war in his old homeland.

Sasuke's thoughts were mostly what they were always like. 'A dangerous mission, huh? I'll use it to increase my strength, I can't allow myself to die on a mission like this. He's still somewhere out there… Itachi! I will defeat you one day, with my own hands!'

Sakura was the only one who was still hesitant. 'That sounds really dangerous, are we really ready for a mission like that? Maybe it would be better if… No! I swore to myself that I'd become a strong kunnoichi, I can't back down if I want to accomplish my dream!'

The Hokage sighed when he tried to endure Kakashi and Zabuza trying to persuade him to send someone else, if possibly ANBU on that mission. He knew that this was dangerous, but he trusted Naruto. The least he could do was to ensure that Naruto's powers were used to prevent any more people from suffering. When the ranting continued, the Hokage had enough.

"Enough of this! My decision is final, and that's it. I'm fully aware of the dangers involving this mission, and be assured, there will be enough protection for Team 7. We're trying to catch a quite dangerous individual with this mission."

Before the two Jonin could say anything else the Hokage had already sealed the room from the outside world so that none of this would leave this room.

"Alright, I'll now tell you about the mission. Team 7, your task is to act as a bait to lure out one of Konoha's most wanted Nukenin. The man I'm talking about is ranked S-Class in the bingo book and as strong as a Kage."

With this realization dawned upon kakashi's face.

"That's right Kakashi, I'm talking about no one else but the Snake-Sannin Orochimaru. And we know he is after you, Sasuke."

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**Meanwhile in the basement of the Hokage Tower**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto opened his eyes. And immediately regretted doing so. This headache was worse than any other he had had so far. He closed his eyes again and tried to relax. What had happened again? Oh yes, he had talked to his tenant who had said something about a gift and then thrown him out rather impolitely. Then Naruto had fallen asleep. And a vision had shown itself again to him. That was a rather normal thing to Naruto. When a certain event drew near, the visions tended to repeat itself, especially when Naruto didn't try to see something else. But Naruto didn't want to remember this vision; it was never pleasant to see the outbreak of a war again and again.

In this moment Naruto noticed that something was different. He still couldn't move, but there was a strange feeling inside him. It wasn't strong in the beginning, but it grew stronger as time passed, and soon Naruto felt like he was about to burst. Little did he know, that inside the seal Kyuubi was grinning like the madman he was. One last push with a bit of demonic chakra did the rest. Naruto didn't scream as he once again felt pain like a soul totured in hell. He didn't have enough air in his lungs to do so. Darkness enveloped him.

'**NOW LET'S SEE HOW YOU'LL DEAL WITH THIS, GAKI. I'M SURE YOU'LL BE CONFUSED FIRST, BUT IT'S LIKE A DRUG, YOU WON'T GET ENOUGH OF IT, I'M SURE OF IT!!!'**

A menacing laughter echoed though the sewer that kept the Kyuubi sealed.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**Somewhere in Konoha  
XXXXXXXXXX**

Team 8 had just returned from a mission to Wave Country and was quite happy to be home again. Their mission had been to protect the bridge builder Tazuna from bandits, but it soon turned out that it was in fact not as they thought a C-Rank mission but rather a B-Rank one. The shipping tycoon Gato had been oppressing the country by blocking off almost all trading routes and thus giving himself a king-like position. He had even hired missing nins to stop Tazuna from completing his bridge which posed a threat to his position. However, since there hadn't been many strong ninjas to hire out there Yuuhi Kurenai had been enough to deal with them while her Genin team finished off the thugs Gato had hired. It had been hard for Kiba, Hinata and even Shino to have their first kill. But every ninja was forced to kill sooner or later, mostly sooner. When they had passed the gate, Kurenai started talking to them:

"Okay everybody, listen up. I'll go to the Hokage Tower and give the Hokage our report, you can go and eat something, you must all be starving. Well, see you later."

And then she was already gone using Shunshin, leaving behind an indeed very hungry Genin team behind. It was Kiba who picked up the conversation again.

"Okay guys, how does ramen sound to you? It's been a long time since I had any, who's in?"

"The delicious aroma led me there more than once already. I'm in."

"O-okay, I-I'll come t-too."

They were about to visit Konoha's number one ramen stand when Hinata suddenly stopped in her tracks. A slight flickering had caught her eye, but she wasn't able to tell where it had come from. Her curiosity awakened and she activated the bloodline her clan was famous for.

'Byakkugan!'

There! Just one block ahead there was a flickering chakra signature, as if it was used and instantly drained again. This couldn't be good for the body.

"G-guys, I th-think there's s-somebody in t-trouble. It's o-one block ahead o-of us."

"I sense it too Hinata. My bugs are buzzing with excitement. It's quite secluded up there; we're probably the only one to sense it. We should check it." The ever-clam Shino was speaking pressed; it looked like he had a hard time to keep his bugs under control.

"Huh? I don't feel a thing, but I'm not that good in sensing chakra so – hey, what's wrong Akamaru?"

Kiba's partner was whimpering and grabbing Kiba's head like he was falling off. Seeing this, Kiba understood.

"I see, Akamaru can smell the chakra source, but it looks like he doesn't like it. It could be an enemy. Let's check it, who knows what slipped into the village."

The other two nodded and they ran to the alley the felt the signature coming from. But when they arrived there they couldn't see anything suspicious.

"That's strange. My bugs are resonating even more; this is the place where the chakra radiates from. Hinata, do you see anything else?"

"N-no Shino-kun. I o-only caught the g-glimpse of a p-person just before we e-entered the alley, b-but now it's g-gone. I c-can't see a-anything e- Behind us!"

The last part was shouted by Hinata. They all jumped back a bit and turned around just to see...

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**In the Hokage Tower**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Just when the Hokage was about to further explain the circumstances of Orochimaru and his search for the Sharingan, he suddenly stopped and stared on a signal light on his desk like he had seen the world end. He stood up abruptly and hurried towards the door.

"I'm sorry Kakashi, we'll have to delay this meeting; I've got urgent matters I have to attend to. I'll send an ANBU to you, have a good day."

And with a speed betraying his old age he was gone, leaving behind a very confused Team 7 and an even more confused Hatake Kakashi. What the hell could be more important than an upcoming war?

The Hokage hurried down the stairs, passing though the countless security facilities. For a moment he felt like it was that night again, the night where the dreaded Kyuubi attacked the village. The night where he carried a crying Naruto to the hospital. The night where a young boy's future was forever destroyed. He would never forgive himself if this would happen again. Never.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**Back in the alley**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

At the entrance of the alley stood a boy; not older than them. He was wearing a completely white kimono as far they could see. The only other thing they could see was that the boy had blonde hair; Since he stood with his back to them. It looked like he hadn't even noticed the three Genin behind him. But before Kiba, as brash as ever, could start to talk/yell at the boy, he began to talk, although it rather sounded like a monologue. His voice was lacking emotions, but it was shaking a bit, as if he was in a deep emotional tumult.

"Is this… Konoha? Is this real or just another dream? No… this is no dream… Is this the sun? The sunshine… It is… warm. I can feel it on my skin… What is this? I am standing on my own? What happened to me?!"

As the boy continued to speak his voice grew more and more desperate. He started clutching his head as if he was in agony. He sank to his knees, shaking his head and covering his ears and eyes with his hands as if he tried to block out the entire world. At this moment Team 8 finally snapped out of the trance like state they had been in and they approached the boy carefully, Kiba first.

"Uh, hey, are you okay? You look like you could need some help. What's your name?"

They boy slowly turned his head around when he noticed that somebody was talking to him. His hands were still clutching his head madly. The only thing they could see when the boy had turned his head around half way was his right eye, the rest was covered by shivering hands. Team 8 shuddered when they looked into his eye. It was dull and lifeless, but it held the clearest form of azure blue. It was a strange combination; they felt like they were looking into the eyes of a corpse, only a flickering in his eyes showed that there was still life inside this boy. They probably would have stared at him forever if the boy had not turned around again and started to run away. Or rather tried, to Hinata it looked like the boy had never walked before. She didn't know how true that was. Hinata tried to calm the blond down.

"Y-You shouldn't r-run away, y-you don't look t-to g-good. I think y-you should g-go t-to the hospital, y-you look l-like you w-were in it b-before. W-we can t-take you t-there."

The boy still looked at them with his lifeless eyes as if he didn't understand their language. Then finally he started talking.

"Who are you? No, _what _are you? Are you illusions created by _him_? Is he torturing me even now? What the hell is this? What is happening with me?!"

The boy's voice got more and more desperate with each word. Kiba, Hinata and Shino weren't really sure what they should do; they had never seen anybody talk like this. Shino was already considering if he should go and look for Kurenai-sensei, but he wasn't too sure she would still be in the Hokage tower. But what other options did they have?

"Guys, you take care of him, I go looking for Kurenai-sensei, the boy seems to have a deep mental trauma; perhaps it was a genjutsu. Take him to the hospital; I'll be back as soon as possible."

Shino took off, leaving behind a very confused Kiba and a very unconfident Hinata. However, the confusion of Kiba didn't last long and soon he approached the boy who had started to roll himself to a ball with the intent to carry him to the hospital. But just when he was about to touch the boy a wave of pure chakra emitted from the boy and sent Kiba into the next wall along with Hinata. Kiba was on the verge of unconsciousness when he looked once more to the spot the blond boy had been lying only to see that the boy was gone and had left no trace behind that he ever had been there.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**In the basement of the Hokage Tower**

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Naruto opened his eyes. And immediately regretted doing so. His whole body was in pain, more than usual. His whole mind was one big mess. But admits the chaos there was one thought that described his momentary state.

'What the hell was that?'

He calmed himself down a bit and collected his thoughts.

'A dream? No, I've never dreamt of myself before. And it felt so real… It felt? That's strange… I remember how the sun felt on my skin. But I've never felt sunshine before… Am I finally going insane? No… It was you, right?! Answer me Kyuubi!'

But the demon inside him remained silent. Just when Naruto was about to travel back in his mindscape to confront the Demon King again he heard the door opening. He looked up, his eyes still a sign of the state he was in. The Hokage rushed in, and Naruto could see how a wave of relief washed over the Sandaime's face when he saw that Naruto was still alive and apparently unharmed.

"Kami, you really scared me Naruto. I think my heart skipped a few beats when the lamp on my desk that signalizes if you're in a critical condition suddenly started to blink. What happened? Was it another vision?"

Naruto's mind worked as fast as it could. Should he tell the Sandaime that he had found out about the Kyuubi? Or what had happened just now? Naruto decided against it. He still didn't have enough information and wouldn't confront the Hokage about it now. Naruto knew that the old man probably had his reasons for why he didn't tell him, and he didn't want to cause pain to the only person that cared about him.

"No, I think it was just a nightmare Hokage-sama. I was sleeping, sometimes my body requires it instead of the trance I spend most of my time."

The Hokage nodded at hearing this. With the terrors the boy had seen in his dreams it was no miracle he had nightmares. He smiled.

"That's good to hear, Naruto. If you need anything else, just ask, ok? You I want to make your life as comfortable as possible."

The Sandaime didn't notice it, but these words caused Naruto's face to harden. Why would he want to do this? To ensure that he would remain Konoha's dreamseer? To ensure that he would keep the Kyuubi locked up down here? Or were all these doubts nothing but a trap of the Demo King himself? Naruto didn't know, and he also knew that it would take a long time to find answers to these questions. But Naruto would still walk down this lonely path, he would continue until he found the answers he was earching for. Despite all this negative thoughts Naruto managed to perform a weak smile.

"Could you… tell me of the world out there once more Jii-san?"

Naruto didn't know how happy it made the Hokage to get called like this by Naruto. One day the blonde had suddenly stopped calling him like this. It had been the day where Naruto had seen the vision of the Great Shinobi War for the first time. A part of the boy's innocence had died that day. So the Hokage sat besides Konoha's dreamseer and told the him of the world he would never see.

Deep inside the sewer Kyuubi grinned madly.

"**DON'T BE TOO SURE, PATHETIC HUMAN. YOU'LL SEE WHAT YOU DESIRE, BUT EVERYTHING COMES AT A COST, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ****DEAL WITH A DEMON…"**

The Kyuubi chuckled evilly inside the seal. He was waiting for his chance. And he knew it would come.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Notes: **

**(1) **_**Hatsugoori = First Ice of Winter**_

**I thought this name was quite suiting for Haku, also because in the prophecy I called him 'early snow'**

**(2) If you wonder why Naruto didn't foresee the Uchiha massacre, well, he did, but for reasons that were explained in the manga this prophecy was never used. Since I don't know how far you've read the manga I don't want to spoiler too much about it. I'll explain it in a later chapter. Let's just say Danzo has something to do with it^^**


	5. Chapter 4: A Bitter Sweet Curse

**Wow, I finally completed the next chapter… took me long enough ^^" I'm sorry for the delay but I had a lot of tests and I'm working on my driver's license, so I didn't have much time to write.  
****One important note though, I've put up a poll to decide for the next FF I'll write, I hope you check my profile for it^^  
****Well, I haven't really got anything ****else to say, except a 'thank you' for the reviews, I still wished there were more of them though (like most authors do I think XD ). Enjoy the next chapter of 'Alone I Dream'^^**

**Disclaimer: **Kishimoto still didn't hand over the rights of Naruto.

"**Demon Speech"  
**'**Demon Thought'**

"Speech"  
'Thought'

* * *

**Chapter 4: A Bitter-Sweet Curse**

Night was falling over Konoha. But that didn't really matter to the group of Genin that had gathered at the BBQ restaurant, they had planned this event for weeks and had finally got together, there was no way they wouldn't use this to its fullest. The entire Rookie Nine was gathered, the original eight graduates had welcomed Haku with open arms. The young ice user had been surprised to get accepted by them so fast, but he was more than happy about it. It was the first time he had friends. And even Sasuke had joined the group; he even contributed something to the ongoing conversation, what caused two of the female shinobi to look at him with hearts in their eyes. Their inner fangirls might have been destroyed with the friendly help provided by Anko, but that didn't mean they would simply ignore the dream of their sleepless nights.

The Genin teams were only talking about daily stuff though. For the young shinobi this was a chance to escape the daily life of being a ninja and relax for once. Even though they were still young, every one of them had already taken a life. It had happened on their first C-Rank missions, in the case of Team 7 an A-Ranked one: Team 7 on their mission to stop the Sound 5, Team 8 while protecting Tazuna and even Team 10 who had been ordered to take out a bandit camp.

Though none of them had liked it, they knew that they would probably have to do it again. Two weeks had already passed since Team 7 and 8 had returned from their missions, but they were still glad to forget about it for a while and catch up with their old classmates. When the end of the meeting was drawing near, Ino started a topic that had been on her mind for quite a while now, and she wanted to know what the others though or knew about it.

"Hey, listen up everyone; I've got a question for all of you. You know, there's this strange rumour going around lately. It says that a ghost is wandering around in Konoha, have you heard of it before? I don't know too much, only that it seems to be a boy clad in white."

That caught the attention of the young ninjas. They didn't really believe in things like ghosts, on the other hand a fox in the size of a mountain had attacked their village, so there was probably more between heaven and hell that they knew of. Haku was the first to answer.

"Well, I haven't really heard that much about this one, but when I was walking home last week I saw something strange. It was already night time and I couldn't sleep; so I decided to take a walk and look at the moon. And when I was watching the stars, I saw a boy standing on top of a house; it seemed that he was also enjoying the view. I couldn't see much; only that he was blond and wore white clothing; I'd say it looked like what Hinata-san's father is wearing normally. But the strange thing is, I only blinked once and then he was no longer there. I wrote if off as an imagination since I was pretty tired."

"I guess you're not the only one who saw something like this," Shikamaru added. "I've overheard a few persons talking about a blond boy clad in white that no one has seen before. It's strange though, most of them were ninjas. I heard how a Jonin said that he had felt watched; he even detected a chakra source, but only a few seconds later it vanished. He only saw the silhouette of a boy. Strange coincidence I'd say. They began to suspect a spy in Konoha."

The statement of Shikamaru had another effect on Ino besides increasing her curiosity. Unseen by the others Kiba, Shino and Hinata were exchanging glances.

"How the hell did you manage to overhear a Jonin talking about something like this? I can't imagine he was talking about this on the street."

"… Troublesome. If you want to know, I was hiding in a shinobi-only bar; my mother was getting all bossy again. Troublesome woman."

The rest of the Genin nodded. That was Shikamaru, no doubt about it. But still, the fact that both Haku, who had no reason to make up something like this, and Shikamaru, who thought that it was too troublesome to lie, had also seen and heard about the ghost that seemed to wander around in Konoha was more than enough to convince the Genin that there had to be some truth behind it. That was when Kiba decided to talk. He looked to Shino and Hinata to make sure that he should tell the others.

"Guys, there is something you should know. When Hinata, Shino and I came back from Wave country a week ago, something rather strange happened to us. Kurenai-sensei had gone to the Hokage Tower and we had decided to grab something to eat when Hinata noticed, well, what did you call it Hinata?"

"I-it was l-like the chakra w-was fli-flickering, and i-it seemed v-very u-unstable."

"My bugs also reacted to the chakra signature. It wasn't too strong; we were probably the only ones to notice it since we were close by." Shino added to his teammate's statement.

Kiba picked up again: "Right, so we went to the alley where the chakra came from. But when we looked inside, there was nothing. But just when we were about to leave, Hinata noticed that there was someone behind us, apparently the same person whose chakra we had sensed before. And I don't know if it's just a coincidence, but the boy had blond hair and white clothes."

That got everyone's attention to the highest level. If this was the same person, than they knew who the 'ghost of Konoha' actually was. They were all listening intently to Team 8 now. They were so curious that Chouji had even stopped eating. The story went on, but this time it was Shino who told them what he knew of the meeting with the strange boy back in the alley.

"Just when we were about to approach the person, he suddenly started talking, but it wasn't really addressed to anyone, it was more like a monologue. However, I can't recall everything of it, but it mostly was something like: ' Is this real or just another dream? No… this is no dream…' I couldn't really understand much more, especially when he started groaning and clutched his head as if it was about to explode. We tried to talk to him, but he looked at us as if _we_ were ghosts. I remember one more thing he said to us when he saw us. It was like: 'Who are you? No, _what _are you? Are you illusions created by _him_?'

If I had to guess I'd say whoever this boy was had a heavy mental trauma, especially since his voice grew more and more desperate. That's why we decided that I'd try to find Kurenai-sensei and Kiba and Hinata would try to help as much as they could. I left afterwards, so I'd be best if someone else would continue."

To everyone's surprise Hinata was the one to continue the story. She even tried as hard as she could to suppress her stuttering.

"W-well there wasn't really that much after that. W-when we tried to get the boy to the hospital; both Kiba and I were pushed away by a chakra wave and knocked out. It was strange though, I didn't notice anyone molding chakra, i-it was simply _there_. We regained consciousness a few minutes later, but the boy was no longer there. Shortly after that Shino-kun and Kurenai-sensei found us. B-but since there wasn't really anything that proofed that the boy had been there we wrote it off as a prank. But with everyone talking about this ghost lately it seemed k-kinda strange…"

Even more surprising than a none-stutering Hinata was that Sasuke of all people seemed quite interested in this topic.

"So, a ghost is wandering around in Konoha… Hn, finally a new challenge, I was getting bored. I don't believe in such things as ghosts, but any person that can manage to hide himself from a whole village full of ninja is surely someone you can't underestimate. I say we use tomorrow to find this 'ghost' and solve the so called 'mystery', are you in?"

Although he hid it under his usual attitude, the other members of the Genin that would soon be called the Rookie Nine felt that he actually wanted all of them to hang out together and have fun while searching for the ghost. The Uchiha had definitely changed a lot since his days in the academy. He was still a bit cocky sometimes, but he _was_ the strongest of the rookies, if you exclude Haku of course who wasn't really a rookie since there were little Chunin that could hope to beat him.

And so it was settled, the next day was reserved for ghost hunting. Little did they know how much this would change their future. And not only theirs…

**XXXXXXXXXX  
****In the basement of the Hokage Tower, one week ago  
****XXXXXXXXXX**

The only person who spent more time than the Hokage inside the tower slowly opened his eyes. Last week had been… interesting. It took him a while, but now he had finally mastered his new ability to a certain degree. His initial confusion had subsided, and Naruto had once more returned to his former self. But a little bit of the insecurity remained. Naruto remembered how he had searched for the Kyuubi to explain this. It had been more than just unsettling.

_**xxxxxxxxx  
**__**Flashback  
**__**xxxxxxxxx**_

_Once again Naruto stood in front of the mighty Kyuubi no Youko. The fox was nowhere in sight, but Naruto knew he was only hiding himself in the deeper levels of his prison. It had nowhere else to go after all._

"_Come out Kyuubi-teme! You've got some explaining to do!"_

_Naruto yelled in the depths of the sewer. At first nothing happened. And then Naruto was suddenly slammed into the wall at the other end of the large room by an invisible force, courtesy of Kyuubi. The dreaded Demon Fox appeared behind the bars, his eyes burning with malice._

"_**ONE THING KIT, NEVER PISS ME OFF!!! DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO YOU ARE TALKING TO? I AM THE NINE-TAILED FOX, THE KING OF ALL DEMONS!!! AND I WON'T ALLOW A PATHETIC HUMAN TO TALK TO ME LIKE THIS!**_

_**JUST TURNING UP LIKE THIS AND YELLING AT ME, I WAS WAITING FOR A LITTLE 'THANK YOU' HERE! AFTER ALL, HOW DO YOU THINK YOU GOT TO SEE THE OUTSIDE WORLD FOR ONCE?"**_

_Naruto calmed himself down while he got on his feet again. He had forgot that despite the fact that the Kyuubi was sealed inside him he was still a being that could not be tamed by any means. He let his anger get the best of him. _

"_So I was right, it _was_ your doing. What did you do to me? That pain was worse than that time when I tried to kill myself."_

_The Kyuubi snorted. Pain was a feeling he had never known, not even the toughest demons in his world had been able to put more than a scratch on him._

"_**WELL KIT, I SAID I'D GIVE YOU A PRESENT, RIGHT? I CUT DOWN THE BOND CONNECTING YOUR SOUL WITH YOUR BODY. HEY, DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THIS, IT'S NOTHING PERMANENT. I'LL EXPLAIN IT SO THAT EVEN A PATHETIC NINGEN LIKE YOU CAN UNDERSTAND IT. **_

_**YOU SEE, **__**WHEN I SEPARATED YOUR MIND FROM YOUR BODY IT WAS LIKE UNTIEING A BALLOON FROM THE BASE IT WAS TIED TO. THE BALLON FLIES AWAY AND CAN GO WHEREVER IT WANTS UNTIL IT LOST ALL OF ITS HELIUM AND IT SINKS ON THE GROUND AGAIN. **_

_**ONLY THAT IN THIS CASE THE BALLOON RETURNS TO ITS BASE. THE SOUL CAN'T BE COMPLETELY SEPERATED FROM THE BODY AS LONG AS THE BODY STILL EXISTS, THE YONDAIME WAS LUCKY I AM A CHAKRA-BEING, OTHERWISE HE COULD NEVER HAVE SEALED ME LIKE THIS."**_

_Naruto digested the information. The demon had been able to separate his soul from the body and he had been unable to do anything against it. What else could that damn thing do?_

"_Okay, I get that much, but why did you do this? As far as I've understood it only separates my soul since yours is still bound by the seal. And why the hell did it hurt that much? I mean my soul shouldn't be able to feel pain, it lacks the pain receptors to do so."_

_Inwardly the Kyuubi was thankful that his host wasn't as dumb as it could have turned out. While the Kyuubi was no friend of conversations he was so bored down here that he would do almost anything to pass time. But only almost. _

"_**SINCE I'M FEELING GENEROUS TODAY I'LL EXPLAIN IT TO YOU. **__**THE PAIN WAS BECAUSE CUTTING THE CONNECTION FOR THE FIRST TIME IS SPECIAL, BUT DON'T WORRY, IT'S A ONE-TIME-ONLY-THING. AND FOR WHY I DID IT, YOU SEE; I HAVE ACCESS TO YOU MEMORIES – DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THIS, IT'S NOT LIKE THERE IS THIS MUCH TO SEE, YOU'VE ALMOST SLEPT AS MUCH AS I DID! WHERE WAS I? **_

_**AH, YES, YOUR MEMORIES. YOU SEE, WHILE I WAS ASLEEP I SAW MOST OF THEM ALONG WITH YOUR VISIONS LIKE IN A DREAM. I ESPECIALLY LIKED THE DREAMS WITH THE GREAT SHINOBI WAR OR MY ATTACK ON THE VILLAGE, BUT BACK TO TOPIC: **_

_**THESE MEMORIES ARE BORING **__**TO ME NOW; THEY LACK THE MEMORY OF YOUR SENSES. WHILE YOU SEE EVERYTHING YOU DON'T FEEL IT. I WANT TO FEEL IT AGAIN! THE FEELING OF WIND BLOWING AROUND YOU, THE WARMTH OF THE SUN, THE SCENT OF FEAR HUMANS PRODUCE WHEN I'M ABOUT TO KILL THEM!!! I WANT TO FEEL ALIVE!!!"**_

_Naruto had to brace himself so that the eruption of Kyuubi's emotions didn't blow him away. Naruto was quite surprised by this. He even felt pity for the Demon King. While Naruto had never know__n these feelings – especially not the last one – it was much harder for Kyuubi, who could miss these feelings to be locked up like this. But now Naruto remembered. The gentle warmth of the sun when it shone upon his skin, the whisper of the blowing wind…_

_Although he had only been a soul, he had felt it. Naruto's thoughts were interrupted when he noticed that the giant kitsune had calmed down enough and was about to continue._

"_**SORRY, I GOT CAUGHT IN THE MOMENT. YOU'RE PROBABLY WONDERING HOW YOU WERE ABLE TO FEEL ANYTHING WHEN YOU WERE ONLY A SPIRIT. YOU SEE, I ALSO ALLOWED YOUR SOULD TO TAKE SOME CHAKRA ON ITS WAY TO MANIFEST PHYSICALLY INTO THE OUTSIDE WORLD.**_

_**IF I HADN'T DONE THIS YOU WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ANYTHING MORE THAN AN ALMOST INVISIBLE FLOATING GHOST MOST PEOPLE HAD IGNORED. BUT CHAKRA ISN'T MEANT TO BE SOLID, THAT MEANS THE LONGER YOU'RE PHYSICAL THE FASTER YOUR CHAKRA IS CONSUMED. ONCE YOU'RE OUT OF CHAKRA YOU END UP HERE AGAIN. **_

_**IN OTHER WORDS YOU CAN SWITCH BETWEEN **__**BEING SOLID AND INTANGIBLE. THIS TIME YOU VANISHED PRETTY FAST SINCE I ONLY PUT A SMALL AMOUNT OF CHAKRA INSIDE YOU WHEN YOU LEFT, THE STRESS OF CUTTING YOUR SOUL CONNECTIONS AND PUTTING YOUR HUGE CHAKRA RESERVES INSIDE YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN INSTANT DEATH.**_

_**OKAY THAT'S IT, I'M DONE EXPLAINING! AND NOW GET OUT, AND YOU BETTER GET OUT OF THIS GODDAMN BASEMENT SOMETIMES OR I'LL PROMISE YOU A WORLD FULL OF **_**REAL **_**PAIN!!!"**_

_The Kyuubi turned around and with a huge gust of wind Naruto was blown out of his mindscape once again. While walking back into the darkness, no one could see the maniacal grin of the Nine-Tailed Beast. His chance would come. He chuckled evilly. _

'_**ENJOY IT, **__**PATHETIC NINGEN. YOU'LL WISH YOU'D NEVER LISTENED TO ME ONCE YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU'VE DONE. I THOUGHT YOU'D SHOW SOME INTELLIGENCE, HOW DISAPPOINTING. YOU SHOULD NEVER TRUST A DEMON LORD.'**_

_Kyuubi had his own vision of Konoha's future. And it wasn't a pleasant one._

_**xxxxxxxxx  
**__**Flashback End  
**__**xxxxxxxxx**_

Naruto shuddered when remembered this. He knew that the Kyuubi was dead-serious, and Naruto really didn't want to become a toy so the Demon Lord could pass his time. But still the dreamseer wondered a bit about all of this. The Fox had said he had given this ability to his host for his own well-being. Nonetheless he felt like Kyuubi was hiding something…

Naruto brushed it off. He had enough time to think later. He wanted to see the blue skies of Konoha again… He wanted to feel _alive_.

_**The next day**_

Night came to an end and a new morning began in Konoha. But when the capital of Fire country was still only beginning to wake up (at least the civilian parts) 12 young shinobi had already gathered in the apartment Haku lived in and were prepared to search all of Konoha to find the mysterious 'ghost boy'. They were equipped with headsets that would allow them to stay in contact with Shikamaru who had volunteered to stay behind and coordinate their movements. For the last time the lazy genius explained their plan.

"Okay everybody; listen up because it's too troublesome for me to repeat everything. We're nine people but since I'll stay there'll be eight looking for hints. I'd say we make two teams of four people with one leader each. When someone finds something you contact your group leader, and the leaders will contact me. I can give you new directions depending on the info you gather.

Okay, now for the teams: Haku, Sasuke, Hinata and Chouji are team 'Shadow' while Kiba, Shino, Sakura and Ino are team 'Leaf'. The leaders are Haku and Shino are the leaders. Team 'Leaf' will start in the western city parts and team 'Shadow' will search the east. If you don't find anything we'll meet here again at 1400. Dismissed."

The Genin just gave Shikamaru a silent nod before they took off, spreading across the city. Unknown to them a certain blond boy sat on top of the Hokage monument, staring at the city in front of him with mixed emotions. For the first time on his road of life he had arrived at a crossroad. But which path should he choose?

"So many questions, so little time… "

And Naruto knew what he was talking about when he said 'little time'.

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**Well, I hope you liked Chapter 4^^ Please remember to review; I'm sure there are things I can do better.  
****And please remember****, I made a poll on my profile to decide which FF I'll start next. Please stop by and choose one^^  
****Till next time, Faroush  


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_**Preview of the next chapter:**_

_In front of them stood a boy who couldn't be older than 12. Yet he looked at them with eyes that had lost their light. The Genin suppressed a shiver. These eyes didn't belong to someone who was still alive. _

_The blond boy only stared at them with his lifeless eyes. Then, almost unnoticed his lips moved only to form one sentence:_

"_The time has come."_

_**Next chapter: **_**To seek what is for sure**


	6. Chapter 5: To seek what is for sure

**Ta-da, I present "Alone I Dream" chapter 5! And man, it sure didn't want to be written**** (I'm sorry for the long wait). Yet thanks to your support I somehow pulled through, since this is by far my most successful FF.  
****But recently I started other stories too, and I write when the creativity flows^^  
****Now to the story, enjoy^^ **

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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

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"Speech"  
'Thought'  
"**Demon Speech"  
**'**Demon Thought'**

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Please R&R!!!

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**Chapter 5: To seek what is for sure**

Three hours had passed. And unfortunately the Genin hadn't made any notable progress. The only clues they had found were the standard rumors, nothing they didn't already know. Meanwhile in the apartment Shikamaru was busy connecting the little bits of information they had gathered. There had to be a system, a pattern the ghost used for his movements. The lazy genius had marked the confirmed spots were the boy had been sighted. Most of the areas were off from the main streets, they were mainly recreation areas or parks.

'So he's avoiding large groups of people… This might be the deciding clue we need if we want to trap him.'

Before he could think any further his headset picked up an incoming message again and he had to answer (with a sigh).

"What is it Haku? You found something?"

While Shikamaru was still busy connecting the clues, the teams were just as busy finding them. The ice user had even created his infamous ice mirrors to cover a large area, just like Shino did with his bugs. Unfortunately it didn't help.

"Nothing new from my side Shikamaru, but Hinata just contacted me. It seems she came across her cousin's team. When she explained the situation their sensei seemed to encourage them to help us. I think I heard something like 'flames of youth' in the background…"

A sigh escaped the lazy genius' lips. He wondered what was worse: continue searching for the rumored ghost without three additional people or Lee's enthusiasm. A tough decision, but in the end he chose to say nothing against their help. Complaining was Ino's forte after all.

A few minutes later Shikamaru raised his hand to his headset and opened a channel to deliver a message to the whole team. His analytical mind had finally developed a plan to solve the mystery of Konoha's ghost boy. His plan would depend on the progress the rookies had made, and especially on their chakra reserves.

"Listen up everyone, I've got a plan. Concentrate your search on recreation areas and more isolated places. He should be in one of these places. Once you catch sight of him we'll engage him with the following plan…"

**xxxxxxxxx  
****Hokage Mountain, Naruto's POV  
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Naruto sat on top of the Hokage Monument and let his gaze wander over the city that lay before him. He had come to enjoy the sight from the various Kage's heads. Everything looked so… peaceful from this place. Feeling at peace… had he ever felt like this before? Probably not.

His clothes had changed. Apparently he was able to create any image he wanted for his appearance, though it only applied to his clothes and his age. The general features like his hair and his eyes remained the same. Naruto now wore a long black sleeveless vest over a white shirt with long sleeves. The shirt ended in black cargo pants and a blood-red sash. Lastly he wore black ninja sandals, which were currently kicking small pebbles which lay on the monument.

The only thing Naruto had felt for the past 6 years in his basement was a dull pain and little to no emotions beside resignation. He had simply existed; there hadn't been anything exciting in his life since the day the old Hokage had tried to take him out of the basement. But that had failed and almost killed the young dreamseer. It was refreshing to have at least a little taste of what most humans took for granted.

But despite enjoying his newfound freedom, Naruto knew that this peace wouldn't last long. His eyes that had held the slightest shimmer inside them once again returned to their lifeless form. He might have been wandering around as a ghost for some time now, but that didn't mean his visions had stopped. Or the pain. The pain had only gotten worse, and Naruto knew that it was connected with his little trips. But the fox kept silent about this, and thus Naruto had to figure things out on his own.

Another fact was that the visions felt even more intense, especially after re-entering his body. And with the upcoming invasion Naruto had been forced to live through the bloodbath again and again. If his mind hadn't been used to this he would have gone insane a long time ago.

But even more disturbing was the other vision Naruto had seen. Why? Because he had seen himself in it. And that had never happened before. Could he really be this important that he could cause a vision about himself? Naruto sighed heavily. He didn't want to meet with these Genin, but it seemed like he was destined to do so. Normally Naruto used his prophecies to change the upcoming events, but he knew that some things were bound to happen. The planet couldn't be fooled easily. Just as the war against Oto would occur he would meet those kids. The war couldn't be prevented; it could only be lessened in its effects.

Naruto looked up into the sky and watched the clouds go by. How he envied them, they were free to go wherever they wanted, bound to no one. But he couldn't enjoy the view for long. The earth had told him that persons were drawing near, twelve of them. It looked like the three teams had gotten some more company and had formed the 'Konoha 12'.

Naruto sighed once more and readied himself. He knew what his role was. He had seen them in his dream already, and fate had bestowed some important roles upon them. Naruto just hated the fact that he had to play the delivery-boy. With a last sigh Naruto disappeared from the Nidaime's stone head. He should lead them to a less visible place.

**xxxxxxxxx  
****Somewhere in Konoha  
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The plan was quite simple actually. So simple that most people wouldn't even think of it when they wanted to capture someone. As far as they could tell the ghost was no ninja, he neither looked nor acted like one. Furthermore they should have known him if he was one, he seemed to be in their age group after all. If these facts were all correct he shouldn't be able to tell that the hundreds of people that were slowly swarming the entire city were nothing else but disguised bunshins. This strategy took a huge amount of chakra from everyone, but it looked like it was worth the price.

Shikamaru had received the first sightings of the ghost, it seemed like he was really driven back by large masses of people. At this rate they would corner him… but something seemed off. Was it really that simple? Or was the ghost playing a trick on them? Shikamaru shook his head. Whoever this mysterious ghost was, he apparently held no hostile intentions towards them. Worrying wouldn't help in this situation; however, they had to be careful.

"Alright, listen up everyone. It's working; the ghost is retreating to the old playground behind the academy. Keep the bunshins up for the next 4 minutes, then dispel them, it should be enough by then. I'm heading to your destination; we'll meet at the playground in 5 minutes. Over and out."

_5 minutes later_

The twelve Genin had all gathered at the old playground behind the academy by now. They were forming a rough circle around the supposed destination of the spirit, but there was still no sign of him. Shikamaru had ordered Hinata and Neji to use their Byakugan to scan the area, but even the famous bloodline of the Hyuuga clan was able to find a trace of the rumored ghost. The lazy genius was getting anxious. Did he make a mistake? No, his theories had been flawless, he should appear here… right?

Another 2 minutes passed without anything happening, and just as Shikamaru was about to cancel their observation a chill went down his spine. The look he saw on his comrades faces told him that they had felt it too. Someone… or something was here. They only blinked for a split-second, but when they looked at the playground again a person stood there that hadn't been standing there a moment ago.

The person wore a long black sleeveless vest over a white shirt with long sleeves. A crimson sash held the vest closed, which was so long it only revealed a fraction of the black cargo pants the boy wore. Although his facial features were hidden by a hood that belonged to the vest the Genin instantly felt that he knew they were here.

"You can come out now. Don't worry; I'm not your enemy."

This caught especially Shikamaru of guard.

'How did he find out we were here? He shouldn't be able to sense chakra, but even if; we masked our chakra almost perfectly… It sounds like he wanted us to lure him here. But how is this possible?'

Slowly the four teams approached the hooded figure that stood with his back to them. The young 'Konoha 12' had all various expressions on their faces. Shikamaru, Sasuke and Neji were staring intently at the mysterious boy whose features remained hidden for the moment. They knew that he was dangerous, even if he said that he was no enemy. Haku, Shino and Tenten just looked at him curiously, but their body language betrayed that they were ready to attack whenever the black clad boy tried anything strange.

The rest of the Genin, namely Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Chouji, Kiba and Lee were rather unsettled by the boy's presence. Hinata far more than the others because she had used her Byakugan for a moment; and what she had seen was more than just disturbing. It was like staring into a huge fire, the boy was literally drenched in chakra. Hinata had to deactivate her eyes; she would have gotten a headache if she had continued to look at him.

An awkward silence befell the group. While the rumored 'ghost' was showing no intentions of acting soon, the four Genin teams were slowly getting tenser with each passing second. Finally Neji spoke up.

"Okay, let's get this straight. We were following a rumor about a ghost that was sighted in Konoha recently. We managed to corner the unknown source of this rumor at this playground. This leads me to only one question: Are you the one they call 'the ghost of Konoha'?"

The boy remained silent for a few moments before he slowly started turning around and said: "If you mean the mysterious sightings that have been reported lately, then yes. I am the ghost of Konoha."

He had fully turned around now and took of his hood almost painfully slow. The sight that presented itself then caught the rookies of guard.

In front of them stood a boy who couldn't be older than 12. His spiky blond hair hung down as if it had been drenched by water and almost reached his eyes. The eyes… The boy looked at them with eyes that had lost their light. The Genin suppressed a shiver. These eyes didn't belong to someone who was still alive.

The blond boy only stared at them with his lifeless eyes. Then, almost unnoticed his lips moved only to form one sentence:

"The time has come…"

The tension in the group increased even more. First the strange appearance of the ghost and now he started speaking in riddles!

"What do you mean?" Shikamaru asked.

"… As we speak, dark clouds gather in a far away place. Beyond the war of the snake lies the bloody dawn. You who carry the light of the next generation, the will of fire rests within you. But to face the harsh winds of destiny you must band together, solitude means utter destruction."

The boy recited those words as if they had been engraved into his mind. But this didn't mean they made much sense to the rookies. But before they could even ask what he meant with these words he interrupted them.

"… My work here is done. I can't interfere in the work of fate any longer. And you, although harsh times await you, don't lose hope. We shall meet again one day… Inheritors to the Will of Fire."

A sudden gust of wind erupted from the ground and blew the shinobi from their feet. When they looked back up the boy was gone. And the twelve genin were none the wiser.

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****Basement of the Hokage Tower  
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Naruto's eyes sprung open and pain cursed through his entire body. Had it gotten worse again? It was hard to tell. The pain Naruto felt would probably kill a normal person, but since Naruto had lost most of his nerves he didn't feel much in these parts. Meaning that if Naruto was almost constantly dying because of the pain it was no longer of this world.

'My work here is done for now. I guess I can… go back to sleep again… The invasion… won't start for… the next… six weeks or so… I'm so… tired….'

Naruto's body was getting slower and slower, his thoughts stopped and his heartbeat was almost non-existent. And at the same time a lamp started blinking at the special control setting of the Hokage's desk. Only one word was engraved under the blue lamp. 'Coma'.

Luckily the Hokage wasn't there at the moment. He would have fallen into one himself because of this probably.

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****Naruto's Subconsciousness  
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"Where am I? What is this place?"

Naruto had woken up in what appeared to be complete darkness. There were no directions, no sound, nothing. It was quite similar to Naruto's 'World of Twilight', but this place could break a mind.

"Just great. Not only I'm apparently in a coma again, no, I'm experiencing it this time too. Really, just great."

Since he had nothing better to do Naruto started walking into a direction. Not that he could tell he was actually walking in a circle or on the ground at all, but what were his alternatives? After what seemed like hours of walking Naruto spotted something. A light. A tiny light could be seen in the distance. Naruto felt a feeling swelling up inside of him he hadn't felt for a long time. Curiosity.

As he walked closer to the light, Naruto could slowly see just what he was heading towards. It appeared to be a campfire, and a person seemed to sit there, facing Naruto with his back. Naruto couldn't see that much of the person, but it seemed to be a man in his early twenties with spiky blond hair. A long trench coat covered his back and a strange writing could be seen on it.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked the man when he stood only a few meters away.

The man didn't turn around, but as Naruto slowly circled the man he could make out his face. A face he had seen quite often.

"It's been a long time, Naruto. I wondered when you would finally come here… my son." The mysterious man said.

He was the one who defeated the country of Iwa almost singlehandedly and sealed the Kyuubi in Naruto Uzumaki. The father of Konoha's dreamseer. The Yondaime Hokage, Minato Namikaze.

"Now then… I think we have some catching up to do."

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Finally it's done. I had a hard time writing this, especially with all the other ideas floating around in my head.

**And I'm not satisfied with this one. But I guess I have to be in a bad mood to write dark stuff like this. Well, I also have other ideas I'm writing, but don't worry, I won't abandon this fic^^**

**Till next time,  
****Faroush**


	7. Chapter 6: Dance of Curse

**AN: ****Finally I finished this one. It wasn't easy with school and the other fanfics fighting for dominance. But since I've got holidays now it's easier to decide^^ I also apologize for the long break, but I was under constant attack of plot bunnies. I put them up on my profile, if you're interested in one of those ideas, send me a PM^^  
T****here's one more thing I want to say before the chapter starts:  
Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaank you! I can't believe I got this much feedback with chapter 5, a chapter I rather forced myself to write. But I got over 30 reviews, the hit count is over 9000 and the story is on the alert list of more than 170 readers.**

**This really motivated me to continue this story since I actually considered putting it up for adoption, but with this many reading my story I can't do that, right?^^  
****Once again, I thank my faithful readers, you are the best^^  
****And now enjoy the story^^ **

**Faroush**

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**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.

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"Speech"  
'Thought'  
"**Demon Speech"  
**'**Demon Thought'**

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Please R&R!!!

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Chapter 6: Dance of Curse

_Naruto's Sub-consciousness_

Naruto sat down on the other side of the fire, facing his 'father'. For a while nobody said anything. They both continued like this until the Yondaime sighed heavily, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"You know, if we want to 'catch up' one of us has to say something at some point."

Although he tried to appear calm, the Yondaime easily saw the fury and confusion of the young boy in front of him. But could he really blame his son? The boy had never even seen his father's or mother's faces, or even heard their voices. Being an orphan himself Minato knew how painful it was to be alone. But his son had even worse with the Kyuubi damaging his body to this point. If only he had found another way…

But Minato's guilt trip was interrupted when Naruto finally started to speak.

"I… always admired you. Even when I saw you slaughtering hundereds of Iwa-nin in the Third Great Shinobi War… I still saw the great man who was loved by his village. And now that you're telling me that you're my father… I can no longer say I hate you for what you did to me. I doubt you wanted the Kyuubi to cripple me…"

Minato winced when he heard that. It was true, he had never thought that the seal powered by the Shinigami himself would fail. He had failed his son. Not only he had put the greatest burden on earth on him, he had also failed to at least protect him from the very burden he placed on him.

And as Naruto's voice slowly grew silent, Minato slowly reached out with his hand to comfort his precious son whose head hung low, his hair covering his eyes. But the father's hand was brutally slapped away.

"But why?! Even if I can understand why you placed this burden on me, why, just WHY DID YOU NEVER COME TO ME IN ALL THOSE YEARS?! I was so lonely, so incredible lonely! There are only four people who know of my entire existence, and they'll probably die before I turn 20, that is, if I even manage to live that long!"

Tears flowed freely from Naruto's eyes. Twelve years of suppressed emotions and hurt feelings finally poured out of him, his soul no longer able to hold the grief and pain he had kept inside him.

Just as the pain in Naruto began to surface, the pain in Minato's chest became too much to bear. He sprang to his feet and closed the small gap between his son and himself with one step. Then he hugged his son. For the first time in their lives, father and son hugged. Despite his initial protest Naruto soon stopped fighting the embrace and returned it. His tears never stopped. The young dreamseer had never cried in all these years. He had a lot of catching up to do. Naruto didn't flinch when his father placed his hand on the young boy's head and gently started to pet his son's head.

In this night two lonely souls finally found each other again. And for the first time in twelve years, they weren't alone anymore.

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Basement of the Hokage Tower

Never had Sarutobi felt the force of his years pressing down on him this heavily. The eyes of the Hokage looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. His face looked paler than usual and the wrinkles seemed to have doubled. No one would think that this man was the strongest warrior of the Shinobi Village that stood on top of the ninja world.

"Naruto… I failed you again. I couldn't protect you. I'm not sure if you can hear me, or if we'll even talk to each other ever again. I know my end will come soon, be it by the hand of my traitorous student or by time itself.

But know this: You are like a son to me, and if I could have taken your place, I would have done so. No child deserves the card fate dealt you. I wish you could have lived in a world where you could have been a normal boy. With friends, dreams… and your parents. Please forgive this old man who couldn't protect you, Naruto. And farewell."

Sarutobi slowly turned around and walked out of the room. At the door stood another person who looked like he was around the same age as the Third Hokage was. His right eye was covered in bandages, and since he walked with a cane and hid his right arm in a sling it was clear that this man got his fair share of war wounds.

His name was Danzou, and he was one of the four who knew about Konoha's greatest secret.

As the old Hokage passed his old comrade and rival, no words were exchanged. Although the two old shinobi had different opinions of how a village should be led, they respected each other for what they had done for the village. Danzou might be an old war hawk, but his philosophy was forged by years of war and struggle. And while he detested Sarutobi's peaceful ways, he knew that this man loved the village as much as he did. The Hokage protected the village from the light. But every nation needed a man like Danzou who did what had to be done from the shadows. Together these two protected the Great Tree that was Konoha.

"You know… You're a fool if you think we'll be able to keep his identity a secret forever. I'm afraid some rumors about him have already escaped to the surface. Nothing concrete, but enough to worry me… And you know my opinion about this entire affair."

The Third Hokage looked tiredly at his old rival.

"Yes, I know you wanted him to be put in a permanent coma and have his mind read by a Yamanaka once in a while. And I still say no Danzou, this poor boy has suffered enough, I won't take the little life has away from him too."

"I think it would be merciful. You see that the boy suffers. Why do you think did he try to kill himself? I doubt it was just to pass some time."

Danzou replied calmly. He knew that the Hokage wouldn't give in, that old fool was far too stubborn to listen to Danzou. But even if he disliked his old rival's ways he still respected them to a certain extent. Sarutobi was made the Hokage for a reason after all.

The Sandaime Hokage just shook his head. "Enough of this Danzou. We have a war to prepare. A job you enjoy I assume? Oh, and don't even think of trying to persuade my possible successors of your ideas concerning Naruto. I made sure in my will that whoever succeeds me will not harm the boy as decreed by the Fourth Generation and me."

With these words Sarutobi left, leaving an impassively looking Danzou behind. The old war hawk was rarely angered. He knew that his time would come. Absently the veteran soldier rubbed the bandages covering his right eye.

"Soon… my chance will come. And with this eye…. I shall become Hokage."

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Somewhere in Konoha

After the strange event concerning a certain 'ghost' the Genin decided to call it a day. They were all exhausted and needed rest. They could still discuss the events of this day tomorrow. Furthermore, Shikamaru wanted to think about the whole thing first. Something kept bothering him… and he'd probably find no sleep before he knew what it was.

Once the group had split up, everyone was heading home. So was Sasuke. But he had the strange feeling that he was being followed. He turned around, and indeed, a moment later his pink haired teammate approached him. She was struggling with herself though; apparently she had doubts if this was the right thing to do.

"Sakura? What's wrong?"

There was real concern in Sasuke's voice. He had changed greatly since he had graduated from the academy. It took a great effort on Kakashi's part and some beatings by Haku to get him from his high pedestal, but he finally realized that if he only lived to kill his brother there wouldn't be anything to return to. Strength couldn't just come from oneself. By forming bonds with others you could do the same. The path of the avenger was a road Sasuke would never travel again.

"Sasuke-kun… Can we talk? There's something on my mind."

"… Sure."

The two of them headed silently towards the Uchiha compound. Once filled with people it was now almost completely abandoned. And without Sasuke, there would be nothing living inside these old walls.

Once they reached Sasuke's house, the raven haired ninja gestured Sakura to sit down.

'I wonder what this is about…' The Uchiha thought.

"Sasuke-kun… I'm worried. I don't know if I can handle all this."

"What do you mean? You've made a lot of progress lately – "

"No, that's not what I mean. Sasuke, we're still kids, no matter what we've already done. Can we really fight a war? I can't help it, I'm afraid Sasuke!"

At this point tears were welling up in Sakura's eyes. And Sasuke was unsure how to handle the situation. A ninja's life was never easy, everyone who entered the academy knew that. And yet many ninja sooner or later had an emotional breakdown. Despite how much they were trained to suppress their emotions, they always remained human.

Slowly Sasuke walked around the table they were sitting at. Unsure about what he was doing, he carefully took the now fully crying Sakura in his arms. She was shaking. Sasuke carefully patted Sakura's back as she cried in his shirt. He didn't care though. She was a precious friend to him, and why would he deny a friend a shoulder to cry on when he himself had often longed for one after the massacre?

While holding his teammate, Sasuke's mind began to wander.

'Sometimes our future just seems so dark… I wonder, is there a person who could banish these dark clouds? A person who truly carries the Will of Fire…'

_

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Naruto's Sub-consciousness

Father and son had both reluctantly broken their embrace and now sat around the campfire. Neither said a word, but unlike before, there was no hostility in the air this time. And although Minato enjoyed the comfortable silence they both shared, the former Hokage knew that he had to tell his son about certain… things.

"Naruto."

The blond boy raised his head and looked at his father and wondered why the famed 'Yellow Flash' had such a serious expression on his face.

"There is a reason why I have appeared after all these years, and why you never found me when you dived into your mindscape. You see, after performing the seal I also sealed a part of me in here as a failsafe.

However, to preserve energy I wasn't locked away in your mindscape, where the Kyuubi is, but in your sub consciousness, in the deepest part of your mind. Only if the amount of youki coursing through your body reached a certain level I would manifest in your mindscape and restore the seal.

Don't get that panicked look, we're still in your sub consciousness, therefore the youki level is still tolerable. It is, however, strong enough to deactivate the barriers I placed around me in here, alerting me of the rising youki flowing through your body."

At this point Naruto interrupted his father.

"R-rising youki…? Do you mean the fox is slowly taking over my body…?"

His father nodded stiffly. He didn't like this topic one bit.

"I'm afraid he is. You see, I noticed that you developed the ability to leave your own body, much like the Yamanaka clan does, but even greater. However, the Kyuubi gave you this gift to speed up his own escape. Whenever you severed your ties to your body and took some chakra with you, you also pulled on the Kyuubi's chakra since they're both intervened.

Unfortunately the fox prevented his chakra from flowing out of your body, thus increasing the total amount of youki stored actively in your body. At the moment it's just resting there doing nothing. But I'm afraid the Kyuubi plans to use the chakra as a pathway.

You probably know that if a host uses enough of his tenant's chakra the beast can take over. Your body however isn't able to withstand the force of the Kyuubi's chakra in its weakened condition. Therefore he increased the amount in your body step by step, every time you left your body. And once he has reached the level he needs, the Kyuubi will break out."

Naruto was getting rather panicked by his father's revelation. Would the Kyuubi break out soon and destroy the Village? And since the Kyuubi was sealed within him and thus cut off from the world Naruto couldn't see if the Kyuubi broke out. It was as if someone had removed a variable from an equation.

"B-but wouldn't someone notice the increasing youki inside me? I mean, everybody knows the Kyuubi chakra, they'd get scared the moment it rises to a level where they can clearly sense it.

"I'm afraid the Kyuubi also though of this point in his plans. Imagine the Kyuubi's chakra is condensed into spheres that rest into your body. These spheres are sealed and don't emit the menacing feeling of the Kyuubi's chakra. But once a small trace of the Kyuubi's chakra seeps into these spheres they break open and release all the stored chakra. The Kyuubi is old and cunning. It's not called the Demon Lord for nothing I guess."

Silence befall father and son. But who could blame them? You didn't get such revelations everyday, and even the Yondaime looked like he was at his end of the rope. What could they do?

After what seemed like an eternity, Minato spoke up once more. His voice was lifeless and dull, just like his face. The only emotion he held could be seen in his eyes. They spoke of grief and suffering.

"Naruto… I have a plan how we might be able to save Konoha from the Kyuubi. We'll have to prepare for it, and if it works the plan will be set in motion at the final of the upcoming chu-nin exam. In fact we might even help against Orochimaru, but that's not important compared to the Kyuubi."

Naruto stared at his father questioningly. If he had a plan, then why was he so tense and resigned looking? Naruto swallowed hard. He had a feeling in the gut just why his father wasn't happy about the plan.

"Father… There's a problem with the plan, right?"

If possible Minato's expression became even darker. Just why did the gods hate his family so? First the Kyuubi attack, then the death of his wife and now this. Minato knew, once his soul completely passed on he'd go straight to whatever god who was in charge and deliver a serious beating upon him. But something else was more important now.

Minato looked into his son's eyes. A cerulean blue, just like his mother's…

"Naruto… This plan has one heavy flaw… A flaw I'd never consider accepting if there was any possibility that it could be avoided. But this time… there's no other way."

_**What is Minato's plan?**_

_**Will the Kyuubi break free?**_

_**Only time will tell… If the leafs will dance once more.**_

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And this is the end of chapter 6, I hope you liked it^^ As it seems we're slowly coming to an end with this FF, I think I'll end it in the next 3 to 4 chapters. Not because I don't want to continue writing it, it's rather because I had an end in my mind which will soon come. But the last chapters will have a lot of action, epic battles and heartbreaking moments (if it turns out how I want it to).

**But with my current pace the end is still in the far future, so no need to worry XD  
****If you have any questions left now, feel free to ask. ^^ I hope I managed to explain everything a logical as possible, but since it's just my theories of the Naruto world errors may occur. If there are any big mistakes, please tell me and I'll do my best to fix them.  
****Oh, and about the SakuraxSasuke scene, it's not because I want to make a couple out of them. I rather wanted to show just how much Naruto's enthusiasm and energy motivated Team 7 and supported them. Without Naruto and his 'Never Say Die' attitude Sakura and Sasuke are not as driven as they could be in my opinion.**

**Until we meet again,  
****Faroush**


	8. Chapter 7: Sacrifice of the Innocent

**Hey guys, it's me again. Thanks to you my faithful readers the hit count as reached over 12'000, more than I imagined I'd ever get when I started this story. But sadly this FF will come to an end soon, ****only one more chapter and an epilogue will follow.  
****But I also have another thing to tell you. Once this FF is finished I'll start a sequel. But the sequel will not play in the Narutoverse, it will be a CrossOver with 'Final Fantasy X' with another Main Character (from the Naruto World), but Naruto will still appear in the story.  
****But enough of that for now, and on with the story!**

**Faroush**

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**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto.

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"Speech"  
'Thought'  
"**Demon Speech"  
**'**Demon Thought'**

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Please R&R!!!

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Chapter **7: Sacrifice of the Innocent**

_**Somewhere in Konoha**_

The sun rose above the buildings and streets of Konoha once more. Unfortunately a lot of people could no longer witness the beautiful sunrise the city offered. Jiraiya, the Toad Sage and probably the strongest shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves as of now, sighed heavily when he sat down on the roof of the Hokage Tower. A gruesome battle had been fought, and a lot of sacrifices had been made to ensure the victory.

His sensei, Sarutobi Hiruzen was one of them. Together with his old student the Third Hokage had challenged his traitorous pupil Orochimaru, the Snake Sennin. But what looked like a certain victory first soon turned out to be a brutal slaughter. With a forbidden technique the insane ninja had resurrected all three of the former Hokage to aid him in his battle. But while the resurrection of the First and Second Hokage had been flawless, something had been off with the Fourth. Sure, the famed Yellow Flash had proved his prowess in battle, but it looked like he was nothing but a husk, an empty shell. Even the other Hokage had their souls sealed into the dead bodies. But the soul of Jiraiya's greatest student hadn't returned. And a part of Jiraiya was almost sad about this. He would have loved to speak to his student once more…

A slight shiver ran over Jiraiya when he remembered the battle which had followed. With three Hokage on his side Orochimaru had the definite advantage over his old team, and they most certainly would have lost if not thanks to the intervention of three individuals. Although everyone else had been evacuated from the Forest of Death, Mitarashi Anko, Momochi Zabuza and Haku had entered the battle field and attacked the undead Hokage. Only because of the opening those three had provided the Third Hokage had been able to use the legacy of the Fourth Hokage, the Shiki Fuujin, to summon the Shinigami and seal all of their opponents in the Shinigami's belly. But victory had come at a heavy price. Their three saviors paid their deed with their life. And Hiruzen… Jiraiya remembered the final moments of his sensei clearly for they were forever engraved in his mind.

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Flashback

_The battle was finally over. The once mighty forest was reduced to only three quarters of its original size. And all this destruction was caused only to bring down one individual, who had brought much harm to Konoha__. But was the price really worth it? Jiraiya stared at the face of his dying sensei. To lose another precious person to that accursed technique… the gods were cruel indeed. At least the Sandaime would be reunited with his old senseis in the Shinigami's belly, although that was a small consolation compared to the suffering that was said to await them there. _

_The Toad Summoners gaze wandered over the battle field whose only survivor he was. If it hadn't been for the sacrifice of Anko, Zabuza and Haku, Jiraiya would be dead now too. He silently stared at the corpses of the three ninja who had given it their all to defeat the traitorous snake. To be honest, Jiraiya was a bit surprised that Haku and Zabuza had helped them so vehemently. They even had ignored their orders once Team 7 had lured out Orochimaru in order to support the Hokage. _

_Jiraiya would never know __for sure why Haku and Zabuza did so, but he had the suspicion it had to do with the similarities between Zabuza and Orochimaru. Both of them had taken in children to use them. Therefore Zabuza was fighting a part of himself he detested and Haku was battling to protect other orphans to fall into the hands of the mad shinobi. Sadly, they had paid their courageous deed with the ultimate price, just like Anko, who had used this chance to bring her old sensei to fall._

_Jiraiya's thoughts were interrupted when the __Third Hokage reached out to his student for the last time. His end was drawing near._

"_Jiraiya… Before I go, I have to tell you something, something very important." The old Hokage said, the light in his eyes already fading._

"_You shouldn't talk sensei, save your energy." Jiraiya tried to calm his sensei down. The Toad Summoner thought his teacher was already in a delirium._

"_No, this secret must be passed on… Konoha's greatest secret…"_

_This got Jiraiya's interest. Maybe it was indeed important what his mentor had to tell him._

"_He's still alive Jiraiya. I'm sorry I lied to you in that night twelve years ago… But I had no choice. Please go to him, you're the last tie he has to this world… Go to the child that sleeps hidden from everyone's sight, I beg of you; don't fail him like I did… Jiraiya - !"_

_And then the Hokage did his last breath._

_First Jiraiya was confused. Just what the hell was Sarutobi talking about? The child that sleeps in the secret basement of the Hokage Tower? Twelve years ago? What was this all about? But then, slowly, he pieces began to connect itself in Jiraiya's mind. Of a godson he'd been told to have died twelve years ago. A child who had lost everything. Naruto Uzumaki._

_End Flashback_

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Jiraiya was torn. Could it be true? Could his godson still be alive? But why had he been lied to? Why was everyone lied to? Normally at least the jonin and the council knew of the most important things regarding Konoha, but to keep the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi a secret… just what had happened in that night? And more importantly, was Jiraiya ready to face it?

And more importantly, if the boy was alive, where was he hidden? The month after the second stage of the chunin exams had already passed, and Jiraiya had yet to find a clue about his godson's possible whereabouts. It was kinda depressing for a man who prided himself to be a master spy and information gatherer.

"Jiraiya. It's time for you to make a decision."

The toad summoner had noticed the presences behind him the moment they had entered the rooftop. He recognized the voice of Homura, one of the Sandaime's old teammates and advisors.

"What choice did you make regarding the Sandaime's last will?" Asked the other advisor, Koharu.

Jiraiya let out a long and deep sigh. The Hokage's Last Will had been read shortly after his passing, apparently the old warrior had known he wouldn't survive the battle with Orochimaru. And he had made preparations for the aftermath.

"Yes. I made my decision." Jiraiya said. His voice was calm and serious, there were no traces of the goofiness and easy-going nature the man normally showed.

"Like my sensei wished for… I shall become the next Hokage."

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Basement of the Hokage Tower, Naruto's Mind

"Well… this is it. Today we'll see if your plan works out."

The emotionless voice of Naruto echoed through the dark place that represented his sub consciousness. His eyes were cast down, he did not want to look into the eyes of his father who stood before him. Both of them knew that no matter the outcome, Naruto, and thus Minato, would probably not survive once the plan was completed. The painful expression on the face of the Fourth Hokage was a clear sign he didn't like this situation one bit.

"Naruto… I want you to remember one thing: wherever you are, whatever you do – I'm with you. And that will never change. You're my son, and I'll walk this road together with you."

Naruto's face remained downcast, but now a small smile adorned his whisker marked face.

"Thank you… Dad."

With his last words spoken Naruto vanished from his mindscape, ready to set the plan in motion which would hopefully stop the Kyuubi no Yoko from escaping and destroying Konoha in the process. Yet the outcome of this fateful occurrence wasn't set in stone. Even the dreamseer of Konoha didn't know what the future would ultimately hold for him at this point. Only time would tell.

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Naruto's Mindscape – The Seal

When Naruto opened his eyes again he found himself in front of the familiar cage that imprisoned the mighty demon Kyuubi. But unlike last time, the seal now started to show signs of corrosion. No longer were the bars strong poles of steel, but rather rusty lines of metal. The walls surrounding the cage were damaged and looked like they were ready to crumble, just as Minato had predicted. And behind the slowly decaying prison wall Naruto saw the huge body of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. A feral grin firmly on its face, the mighty demon lord looked at his jailor.

"**SO MY JAILOR FINALLY VISITS ME AGAIN. WHAT DO YOU WANT, MORTAL?"**

Naruto looked impassively at the massive form of the nine-tailed fox.

"Don't try to play dumb with me, for one the grin gives you away, and furthermore you should know that this is my body, I know if something's wrong with it. I'm well aware of your plans, Kyuubi."

The Kyuubi let out a barking laugh dripping with malice.

"**DON'T TRY TO ACT TOUGH, LITTLE ONE. SO YOU KNOW OF MY PLAN? THEN YOU ALSO KNOW THAT THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME NOW! IN A FEW MOMENTS MY CHAKRA WILL REACH A LEVEL THAT WILL ENABLE ME TO ESCAPE THE SEAL! FACE IT, FOOLISH HUMAN, YOUR LIFE AND THE EXISTENCE OF YOUR PATHETIC VILLAGE IS OVER!"**

And it was true. While the Kyuubi spoke, crimson chakra began seeping out of the damaged cage, slowly eating away Naruto's mindscape. The walls were corroding even further and the cage began to dissolve into nothingness. And yet, Naruto remained calm and slowly walked towards the cage. This caught the Kyuubi's attention.

"As I said, I knew of your plan. And ever since I knew about it, I prepared myself to stop you. Of course I couldn't do it alone. But I had the help of someone you know very well. After all, he's one of the three humans who could ever pride themselves with the knowledge to have beaten the Lord of the Biju."

At this comment the Kyuubi's eyes widened.

"**IMPOSSIBLE! HE CANNOT BE ALIVE! THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NO WAY - !"**

A sad smile crossed Naruto's face as he put his hand on the slightly worn looking seal.

"And yet he still lives within me… On the other side of the Shiki Fuujin. Ironical, isn't it? Both the greatest Hero of Konoha and its greatest nemesis, both sealed inside the same person… And yet the one who matters is the nemesis. However, I will not allow you to threaten the village once again. I cannot stop you, but I can at least hinder your plans."

As Naruto continued to speak, the spiral on the seal started glowing and began to spin in a clockwise motion.

"You know, the Yondaime, my father, split your chakra in two when he sealed you inside me. Well, I could still use all of your chakra if my body wasn't so weak, since it's not truly split. It's still connected to you, therefore if the seal broke, your strength would return completely. Thus the only way to stop this is to stop the dark half of your chakra of you from reaching you through the Shiki Fuujin. And that's exactly what I'll do."

If the Kyuubi was slightly worried before Naruto's explanation, he was now completely out of it.

"**NO!!! YOU CAN'T, I WON'T ALLOW THIS! MY POWER IS MINE ALONE, I WON'T LET SOME STUPID MORTAL FLESHBAG TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME! DO YOU EVEN REALIZE WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF YOU DO THIS?!"**

"I understand perfectly. I prepared myself a whole month for this. My soul will take the chakra and leave my body like before. Only this time, I won't be able to return. The chains which bind my soul will be severed completely. You will take over my body, but it's only a matter of time before it collapses. If you had all of your chakra you might have been able to sustain your true body afterwards, but with only 50% of your power? Highly unlikely."

As their dispute continued, Naruto could already feel the effects of the dark chakra he was taking inside him. He only hoped his father was right and his soul was strong enough to handle the stress. If not… then Konoha would be destroyed even sooner. And the explosion failing would cause would probably level a lot more than just the city.

And while in the basement of the Hokage Tower a clash of will happened which would decide the future of Konoha, other fates were about to take a drastic turn.

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Konoha, _**Noon**_

The streets were abuzz and almost the whole population of Konoha seemed to be out in the open today. The reason for this? After the gruesome battle against Orochimaru and the loss of the Third Hokage, the village council and clan heads had finally chosen a successor for the position of the Godaime Hokage. And it was none other than Jiraiya, the Legendary Toad Sage, one of the three Sannin, student of the late Third Hokage and teacher of the Fourth Hokage as well. Truly, with a man like him as Hokage the Leaf would appear strong to the other nations and continue to grow.

Thus the festival preparations and the general joy in the air were quite understandable. But it was also a sad day for the shinobi population. It had been exactly one month since the death of the Third Hokage and the three warriors who gave their life to ensure the victory against Orochimaru. And a group of eleven genin had gathered at the Memorial Stone today to pay their respects for a fallen comrade, and a friend. Sasuke, Sakura, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Neji, Tenten, Lee… They all had gathered to pay their respects to the deceased shinobi who had, even if it was only for a short time, been their comrade. They stood around the Memorial Stone in a rough semi circle, all of them wearing a black armband and carrying a white lily in their hands. The rest of Konoha was busy preparing the festival for the Hokage initiation, yet those eleven children weren't in the mood to celebrate. It was Sasuke who broke the silence by stepping forward and placing his lily in front of the Memorial Stone.

"Haku…. While I can't say I knew you for long, the time you were our teammate sure made me feel like we had known each other for ages. You too knew the pain of loosing everything you held dear being taken away from you. And died fighting to ensure many children wouldn't have to experience what you did. You showed me what strength one could obtain by fighting to protect something you hold dear. And for that, I'll always be grateful. Farewell, my friend. We shall meet again someday."

Sasuke stood up and returned to the others who, one after the other, also paid their respects to the deceased ice-user and shared their thoughts with him. Hinata and Sakura were crying, and the more emotional ones like Kiba and Lee were also battling with their tears. They had lost a true friend. When Sasuke stared at blue sky above them he couldn't shake the feeling for some reason; that the worst had yet to come.

The servie had taken them close to an hour, and when they heard the first cheers of the crowd they knew the initiation was about to begin. Therefore once everyone had finished placing the lilies before of the Memorial Stone, the group returned to the village. But an air of uneasiness accompanied them all the way, and later on they would find out just how right Sasuke's had been.

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Naruto's Mindscape – The Seal

While on the outside the festivities were reaching their peak, so was the battle fought in Naruto's mind. The young dreamseer used every ounce of his will power to contain the dark half of Kyuubi's chakra, which was much more malevolent then the light part sealed inside Naruto's body. Yet the boy refused to give in into the dark temptations of power and might the chakra promised. He had promised his father to carry on his will to protect Konoha, and he'd be damned if he would fail both his father and himself. The room around Naruto was on the verge of collapsing due to the excessive demonic chakra flowing through Naruto's body.

"Almost… done." Naruto whispered exhaustedly. Just to remain in his mindscape and to retain his form was incredible hard by now. And the constant mental assaults of the Kyuubi weren't helping in that matter.

"**YOU FOOL, YOU'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO CONTAIN THE WHOLE POWER OF MY ****YIN CHAKRA? THERE'S A REASON WHY THE FOURTH HOKAGE ONLY SEALED HALF OF MY POWER DIRECTLY INSIDE OF YOUR BODY, MY COMPLETE CHAKRA IS FAR TOO STRONG TO BE CONTAINED BY ONE INDIVIDUAL!"**

And then there was silence. The noise of the collapsing room stopped, and even the Kyuubi was silent. That was the last thing Naruto noticed before darkness overcame him.

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Mount Myobokuzan

In the world of the Toad Summons hell was breaking loose. The toad who was in charge of the seal key to the Shiki Fuujin had informed the elder toads that someone was draining all the chakra stored with him at an alarming rate. And since the toad elders knew of Naruto's crippled form and his inability to use chakra without overstressing his body, this could only mean one thing: the Kyuubi was breaking free. They had to act fast, or otherwise Konoha would soon be gone. Unfortunately the messenger toad never made it in time.

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Konoha, Hokage Tower

The crowd had gathered at the plaza before the Hokage Tower, from which Jiraiya would give his initiation speech as the next Hokage. And among the large crowd of villagers and shinobi the eleven genin who had held their private memorial service before could be seen. Most of them were happy, yet some of them were also anxious since they still had to prepare for the final of the Chunin Exams. The only reason the initiation of the Fifth Hokage was so soon was because of the fact that they had to keep a strong appearance for the other villages. A weak Konoha could encourage nations like Kumo or Iwa to declare war on them once again, and right now no one wanted that.

Jiraiya was on the rooftop of the Hokage Tower, clad in the traditional Hokage robes. Behind him stood Homura and Koharu, as well as Danzo for some reason. Well, if they waned something they would probably wait till the ceremony was over. It wouldn't take long anyways. But when Jiraiya began his speech, he had yet to realize just how great the crisis that was about to befall Konoha was.

Yet everyone in Konoha heard it… the cry of the beast that had attacked Konoha more than 12 years ago. The mightiest of the nine Biju. The Kyuubi no Yoko had returned. And hell broke loose.

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_**Where the Wills of Fire clash,  
**__**Great Catastrophe awaits.  
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To separate what was never meant to be,  
**__**To reunite what is long since gone…**_

_**Ending the Beast, creating the Nemesis,  
**__**The Wanderer's journey begins anew.**_

_**The Red Dawn shines upon all,  
**__**Setting the stage for the Inheritors of the Will of Fire.**_

_**And thus**__** the story continues,  
**__**The Spiral of Death, Everlasting…**_

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And thus, the seventh chapter comes to an end. Next up, the grand finale. I hope you liked the chapter, and I hope you'll like the next one even more^^

**Please Review, I'd be awesome if I could breach the 100 review count with this story^^**

**Faroush**


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